Page 28 of Rejected Wolf

I shook my head sadly. “They told me I was broken. They probably thought it had to do with the human half of my DNA. Not once while I was kept in that place did I shift. They thought I was some half-breed failure.” I laughed darkly. “But my wolf knew what would happen if he took his fur, so we fought the moon’s pull for years. It was…”

Torture, my wolf said.

Yes, but we survived. Sometimes I felt like we needed that reminder.

“I always knew you were stronger than the rest of us,” Tristan said, both praising and teasing at the same time, and his lighthearted answer helped lift the weight of burden that had been pressing down on me for years.

I swiped a hand across my cheeks to clear away any remaining tears. “Thanks, Tris.”

“Sure, bro, I’ve always got your back.” Then his smile slipped. “But what does that have to do with Pax’s nightmare?”

I glanced at Shan. “Vesta had a nightmare too. She said she dreamed about me, and something about a doctor not giving up. Maybe… maybe he’s found where I’m hiding. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted me to leave, to lead him away if I could, but I also don’t want to leave the pack undefended if they’re coming here.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Shan said, finally closing the distance and laying his hand over my forearm. “Whatever is coming, we’ll face it together. That’s what pack does.”

My chest filled with a mixture of fear, dread, and so much love for my found family. “Thank you.”

Shan lifted his mug to his lips, but it couldn’t hide the smile drawing the corner of his lips up. “Now… tell us about your mate.”

Tristan choked on his tea, spattering the table with the liquid. “Mate?! When did you get a mate, and why am I the last to hear about it?”

“You’re not the last. You’re barely the first, since I haven’t even come to grips with it myself yet.” I couldn’t help but smile when I thought of Morgan, but it slipped away quickly when I remembered the bruises I left on hisneck. “He’s… human, and I’ve been so angry with humans for so long, I guess I inadvertently blamed him for what happened to me too.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “I’ve been so stupid. Logically I know he had nothing to do with it, none of this is his fault, but I was so angry, so scared, and I… I took it out on him. I hurt him.” Shame rose up inside me, and I welcomed it. Morgan was safer without me.

“Well, shit,” Tristan muttered, leaning back in his chair. “Is he okay? How bad did you hurt him? What did he say?”

“We were, you know, having… sex, and I was too rough. I left bruises on him.” I gripped my short hair in my fist and pulled hard enough to sting. “And he didn’t say anything, he was sleeping, but I left a note.”

Tristan blinked owlishly at me. “Were they consensual bruises?”

“I… what?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, a typical Tristan smirk forming. “Well, like, when Dylan and I get down and dirty, we can get a little rowdy. Sometimes we use restraints, and he loves it when I spank him and—”

“Tristan, not the time,” Shan scolded.

“Right, anyway, my point is that if we weren’t shifters, we would constantly be covered in bruises, but they just heal quickly. Did your mate tell you to stop?”

I frowned, starting to get his point. “No. He… said it was perfect.”

“There you go then.” Tristan spread his hands out as if I’d just proven his point. “I gotta say, though. You have way more control of your instincts than I do. If my mate were in that kind of danger, no one could keep me away from him. Just look at what I went through for Dylan.”

I was so confused. “But I’m the one who hurt Morgan, and I left. What danger is he in now?”

Tristan and Shan shared a look I didn’t understand, but it made me feel terribly naive, every inch the shifter who’d grown up without a pack. “What?” I snapped.

“Well, you just finished telling us a story about the human doctors who experimented on you and your family, and we suspect Vesta and Pax had a dream about those same doctors, that they haven’t given up looking for you. But who’s to say they haven’t found your mate instead.”

I suddenly felt as though I’d been plunged in cold water. Pain burst behind my eyes, and I couldn’t breathe. I left my mate, my one and only, among those humans I didn’t trust.

“I’ve gotta go,” I mumbled, lurching off the bench.

“Of course! Go! But maybe get dressed first. Humans have a thing about nudity.” Shan pulled the truck keysfrom his pocket and tossed them to me. “Good luck. I look forward to meeting your mate.”

In under five minutes, I was in the truck, heading back toward Fairhome. And when I came home, I promised myself it wouldn’t be alone.

Chapter 14

Morgan

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